Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Barbados Diary: Day 2: Tuesday 15th August 2006

You can see pictures of my mosaics on my website: www.martincheekmosaics.comThe Barbados work is shown on page:www.martincheekmosaics.com/html/barbados_floor.htmlBarbados Diary: Day 2: Tuesday 15th August 2006Bike – yeah manI’ve decided to get a bike – despite all of the local advice – what am I am going to see from the back of a cab – if I sight a monkey from the back of a cab – well what do I DO about that? On my bike I can say hello – with predictable results! I can also go for a swim at 6 in the morning without having to have a taxi waiting for me. The big problem – that everyone has warned me of – is how to avoid getting my bike nicked. There are people here who are very poor – and a pair of wire cutters is cheaper than a new bike.One of the things that I love about Barbados is the way that it perfectly illustrates how beautiful nature can be – and yet how brutal – in fact sometimes I think that the more beautiful it is the more brutal it can be. What could be more beautiful than a Bengal tiger? Nature seems pretty raw here.When I mentioned to John that I needed so photocopies of the shield template, his brown eyes lit up – “you want me to get paper fir you?!” I would have felt the same way –stuck on a building site for a year – he said that he had the house in his head – and I totally believed him. That said I didn’t want to take the foreman of the case just for a few sheets of paper – it was yet another illustration of how I needed my own mode of transport and thereby get my independence.My client kindly organised that the fridge should be well stocked for me. Some things are clearly meant for me: - I.e.: perishable stuff – others clearly are NOT – like Caesar salad dressing – I find the challenge – like green peppers Vs red tomatoes which we have on the TV in the UK. Fridges are magical things to me - Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." I think that this also applies to fridges –this law could be called ‘Cole’s Law’ - whereby: “The amount of food in the fridge expands so as to fill the amount of days available (in my case 12) for its completion (emptying)”It’s a real challenge to make different meals from these basic ingredients – far more difficult than trying to make ONE wonderful meal from them like on that programme – my personal brief is to make the food so kindly bought for me – now in the fridge - serve me all week. Of course the Wilson’s only intended the food to be a welcoming treat – meant to last one or two days only – but I take it as a challenge to NOT buy anything else throughout my stay.My friend Philip commented on the fact that my Mexican diary got madder and madder – and I gradually lost the plot. I kinda like that and I’m already feeling the madness that loneliness brings with it, starting to kick in.